The Labor enquirer., 1887-08-20
SURE TO BE A SPLIT.
The Minneapolis Knights Of Labor Con.
ventiOn Will Result In
Break.Up.
Chicago Tribune, August Is.

Chicago Tribune, August Is.
A determined and organized
effort is being made by the anti
Socialistic element of district as
sembly No. "a to prevent the seat
ing of the recently-elected
delegates at the coming Minneap-
oils convention OF the Knights of
Labor The conservatives are par
ticularly opposedto George Schil-
ling, whom they denounce as an
anarchist of the most pronounced
type. George Rodgers has pre-
ferred charges against Schilling,
and the case will come up for trial
this week. AT the last regular
meeting of the district assembly
Schilling branded Rodgers as a
traitor and enemy to labor, and
alleged that he had used the
Knights of Labor to feather his
nest. He also charged that at the
previous annual election of dele
gates Rodgers had been guilty of
fraud and stuffing the ballot-box
and thereby securing an election
to the Richmond convention.
Schilling offered to prove these
charges, and Rodgers now pro-
poses to make him do so or step
down and out upon charge of
defamation of character.
1t is said that charges have been
preferred against district assembly
No. "a and that the rscently-
elected Socialist delegates will in
consequence be debarred from
seats in the convention. William
Gleeson, one of the defeated dele
gates, is authority for the state
ment that the Socialist crowd
will never see the inside of the
Minneapolis convention The
conservatives claim that the dis
trict assembly has been guilty of
several irregularities any one of
which, if pushed, would be good
cause for expulsion.
The election of delegates in the
various parts of the country is be-
ing watched with great interest by
those who are in position to
know what is going on The aver
age member of the Knights of
Labor is as ignorant of what is
transpiring outside of his own dis
trict as if he never had been ini-
tiated. Realizing this a we'll
known knight volunteered the fol
lowing information:
There is. a lively time down
East. Frederick Turner, the pres
cnt general secretary of the order.
has been defeated as a delegate
from district assembly No. /.
James II. Wright from the same
district met with the same fate.
Both of these are influential Pow
derly men. Bailey of the general
executive board was knocked out
as candidate in the Shawnee,
Ohio, district. Hayes. another
member of the board. from Bruins
wick. New Jersey. was an unsuc-
ccssful candidate for the Minneap-
oils convention. Tom Barry OF
Saginaw, Michigan, and w. Carl
ton of Massachusetts have been
reelected. In nearly every elec-
ton a square issue is being made
between the defenders and oppo-
nentS of the administration. 1t is
too early yet to make any prcdic-
tions. but one thing is sure, and
that is this: There will be a de-
termined effort made at Minneap-
oils to unseat Mr.. Powderly. That
may be a chestnut; you may have
heard it a year ago, but at that
time it was unwarranted. a year
ago there was not a delegate sent
to Richmond instructed to vote
against Mr.. Powderly, and only
one man voted against his re-elec-
ton. At that time the only dis
satisfaction against him existed in
the minds of a few newspaper cor
respondents. Now, however, there
is a perfeetly-organized effort be-
ing made by a certain class to de-
feat him. If they succeed it will,
in my opinion, completely disrupt
the order. If they fail they will
withdraw and form rival organ
ization. In other words. the con-
yention will certainly result in a
split 1t is inevitable, and might
as well come now as later. The
Socialists arc determined to rule